Samsung Electronics, the world’s leading TV manufacturer for 16 consecutive years, announced that its 2022 Neo QLEDs earned the ‘Reducing CO2’ certification from the Carbon Trust in recognition of its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

The Carbon Trust is a global climate consultancy driven by the mission to accelerate the move to a decarbonised future. The ‘Reducing CO2’ certification signifies that a product’s carbon footprint is reducing year-on-year. It evaluates the amount of GHG (Greenhouse Gas) generated throughout the entire product lifecycle using internationally recognized standards.¹

This year, 11 models across Samsung’s 2022 TV lineup, including three Neo QLED 8K models, three Neo QLED 4K models, two QLED models, two Lifestyle TV models and one Crystal UHD TV model, obtained the certification by reducing the weight of the product and the power consumption during the use phase.

Samsung has long been committed to not only driving product innovation but also shaping and implementing environmental sustainability technologies. During Samsung’s keynote event at CES 2022, Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Samsung Electronic’s Device eXperience (DX) Division, unveiled the company’s vision of “Together for Tomorrow”, highlighting Samsung’s commitment to creating a sustainable future and driving collaboration as part of the global community to preserve our planet.

As part of the initiative, Samsung’s Visual Display Business is set to use around 30 times more recycled plastics to produce its display products than it did in 2021. Samsung also revealed its plan to expand the use of recycled materials in all of their mobile and home appliance products by 2025.

In addition, Samsung has been adopting various sustainable practices to minimize the environmental impacts throughout its products’ lifecycles. The company’s ‘Eco-Packaging’ program — which allows consumers to upcycle the packaging for TV products into versatile pieces of furniture — has been upgraded this year with product packaging using 90% less ink while also removing the staples during production.

Samsung has also expanded the SolarCell Remote, which eliminates battery waste with built-in solar panels, to all TV models in 2022. Additionally, Samsung has developed and applied a new material, made with repurposed ocean-bound plastics, to a 2022 high resolution monitor S8 to reduce marine waste and minimize the environmental footprint.

“As the market leader for 16 consecutive years, Samsung is not only focused on the technological advancements, but innovations around human-centric technology and the environment,” said Seokwoo Yong, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D Team, Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung will continue to implement various sustainability initiatives and eco-conscious activities in line with its ‘Going Green’ vision.”

¹ Internationally recognized standards such as PAS 2050, GHG Product Standard or ISO 14067

Having received the semiconductor industry’s first carbon footprint accreditation for memory chips from the Carbon Trust in 2019, Samsung has now broadened its ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) spectrum with this global recognition of ‘eco-friendly’ logic chips. Samsung also grabbed the industry’s first triple Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon, Water and Waste in June 2021.

The Carbon Trust is an independent and expert partner of organizations around the world that advises businesses on their opportunities in a sustainable, low carbon world. The Carbon Trust also measures and certifies the environmental footprint of organizations, supply chains and products.

Of the various certification categories of the Carbon Trust, Samsung’s System LSI products received the CO2 Measured product carbon footprint label. The label certifies the chip’s carbon footprint, which informs consumers of the impact that the product and its manufacturing process have on the environment.

Receiving the CO2 Measured label is a critical first step for carbon reduction, since it verifies the current carbon emissions of the product with globally recognized specifications (PAS 2050), which Samsung can use as a benchmark to measure future carbon reductions.

Correctly measuring the carbon footprint of a product requires extensive effort and time. It involves calculating the amount of carbon emitted from fabricating raw subsidiary materials and transporting the product, as well as the carbon emission from using electricity, water, and gas. The hundreds of fabrication processes needed to make a semiconductor chip add to the complication.

“We’re pleased to have worked with Samsung on this step in its sustainability journey,” said Hugh Jones, managing director at the Carbon Trust Advisory. “The Carbon Trust’s Carbon Measured certification is a clear and credible indicator for consumers that the carbon footprint of these products have been independently verified, as well as a baseline for Samsung to compare against as they work towards reducing their emissions in the future.”

The four products to receive certification include a variety of Samsung’s System LSI chips, from mobile processors to image sensors. The Exynos 2100, one of the four products to receive certification, is a high-performance mobile processor built with the most advanced 5-nanometer (nm) extreme ultra-violet (EUV) process node. The 0.7-micrometer (μm)-pixel image sensor ISOCELL HM2, DTV SoC (S6HD820), and TCON (S6TST21) also received certification by the Carbon Trust.

Including the four chips, Samsung has so far received certifications for fourteen of its semiconductor products from the Carbon Trust.

“We are thrilled to be globally acknowledged for our eco-friendly efforts,” said Seong-dai Jang, senior vice president and head of DS Corporate Sustainability Management Office at Samsung Electronics. “We will continue to fulfill our carbon reduction goals and expand our efforts to a wider range of eco-friendly, high-performance products to meet the global standards for a sustainable future.”

Exynos 2100

Based on 5nm EUV process technology, the Exynos 2100 is Samsung’s first 5G-integrated flagship mobile processor for premium mobile devices. The Exynos 2100 performs up to 26-trillion-operations-per-second (TOPS) with more than twice the power efficiency than the previous generation.

ISOCELL HM2

The ISOCELL HM2 is a 0.7μm-pixel image sensor that opened up the market for ultra-high resolutions. The 108MP sensor is around 15 percent smaller than the 0.8μm-based predecessors, and reduces the height of the camera module by 10 percent, while featuring faster autofocus, nine-pixel binning and 3x lossless zoom.

DTV SoC (S6HD820)

Samsung’s DTV SoC (S6HD820) is an essential component in television as picture quality evolves from 4K to 8K standard. The DTV SoC’s NPU (neural processing unit) allows AI technology to improve picture quality and audio processing.

TCON (S6TST21)

A TCON takes video data from the DTV SoC and converts it according to the demands of the DDI (Display Driver IC). The data transmission speed of the TCON is important when it comes to quickly transmitting high-resolution video data to the DDI. Samsung’s TCON (S6TST21) integrates two 8K 60-hertz (Hz) chips to minimize energy loss.